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[Episcopal News Service] Global dimensions are set to resonate throughout The Episcopal Church’s General Convention as international guests representing many of the Anglican Communion’s 38 provinces will travel to Salt Lake City.

Guests attending the June 25-July 3 convention will also include several ecumenical and interreligious partners who will look to gain a deeper understanding of The Episcopal Church’s polity and legislative processes and celebrate their common mission.

At past conventions, the visitors program has been described as “mutually enriching.”

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has said that including international guests is a “wonderful reminder of how we are connected across boundaries. When we learn from one another, we seek ways of working that we might not have expected.”

The Rev. Chuck Robertson, canon to the presiding bishop, who has coordinated much of the international visitors program in collaboration with staff of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society’s Global Partnerships Office, said “It is important to help leaders from the other parts of the Anglican Communion, as well as our ecumenical and interreligious partners, to understand who we are as a church and how we come to decisions. But it’s also important for us to learn from them.”

International guests are invited by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Episcopal Relief & Development, Church Pension Group, and various dioceses that share companion relationships with other dioceses throughout the Anglican Communion.

Representatives from The Episcopal Church’s covenant partners – such as the Anglican Episcopal churches in Brazil, Liberia, Philippines, Central America and Mexico – will also attend General Convention and are invited to join the houses of bishops and deputies with seat and voice.

The Rev. Margaret Rose said that the presence of ecumenical and interreligious guests “helps us to see ourselves better.”

Rose, ecumenical and interreligious officer for the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, said, “We are so aware that these guests are not outsiders but partners in the work of the common mission. Outside General Convention we work together on everything from conversations around doctrine and common worship to engagement in common advocacy and projects. With our ecumenical and interreligious partners we seek unity in peace building as we look beyond ourselves to a world in so much need.”

Another important reason to welcome the guests “is the realization that we are not alone as we look to the future of our institutions,” said Rose. “We are all dealing with many of the same issues and it is good to share both the joys and the struggles.”

International guests include:

The Most Rev. Francisco de Assis da Silva, primate of Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil

The Rev. Arthur Cavalcante, general secretary of Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil

The Most Rev. Francisco Moreno, primate of the Anglican Church of Mexico

The Rt. Rev. Jonathan Hart, bishop of the Diocese of Liberia

Floyd Lalwet, provincial secretary of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines

The Most Rev. Renato Abibico, prime bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines

The Most Rev. Samuel Azariah, moderator of the Church of Pakistan

The Most Rev. David Chillingworth, primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church

The Most Rev. Paul Kim, primate of the Anglican Church of Korea

The Rev. Ibrahim Faltas, a priest of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem

Archdeacon Paul Feheley, national director of the Anglican Fellowship of Prayer Canada and principal secretary to the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada

The Rev. Canon Phil Groves, facilitator of the Continuing Indaba program of the Anglican Communion

The Rev. Canon Michael Rusk, a priest in the Church of England

Stephen Lyon, coordinator of the Anglican Communion’s Bible in the Life of the Church project